Australia & Pacific | Viator Travel Blog

Touring New Zealand: An Insider’s Guide

4. November 2009

I'm not originally from the northern hemisphere. But now that I live up here, only now do I realise just how idyllic my native southern hemisphere was. Is. Growing up in the southern hemisphere, each year my mother sent me to the family dairy farm in Golden Bay, at the top of the South Island of New Zealand, for a two-month summer holiday.

Melbourne’s Tram Restaurant

14. October 2009

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It’s a cold late-winter Tuesday in Melbourne and I’m standing on a tramstop under the glare of the Casino’s neon. A brown shelter keeps the rain off but not the bitter wind out. Trams rattle past ferrying commuters home from work. A crowd builds. Then, out of the fading light comes a glow of soft light. It’s here: Melbourne's Colonial Tramcar Restaurant.

Q&A with Lonely Planet’s Tony Wheeler

2. October 2009

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If Tony Wheeler didn't exist, we'd need to invent him. You'll know Tony if you've ever hauled a backpack around the globe with only a fuzzy itinerary (Asia?? why not!) and a money belt stuffed full with everything except money. Along with shoes and toothbrush, the only other required piece of gear was the guidebook. Inevitably it was a Lonely Planet guidebook.

Life on (Australian) Mars

23. September 2009

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It’s 6:05am in Sydney and I slowly open my eyes to see a bright orange glow around the window blinds. It’s eerie – like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I open the blind and am greeted by a magical orange world. It’s like a Fanta fog has descended on the neighbourhood.

Summer in Melbourne: Top Outdoor Cinemas

22. September 2009

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Summer in Melbourne: Top Outdoor Cinemas

Summer and the movies used to be great together. Me and my mate Simon would buy a ticket to an 11am session, then spend the whole day sneaking from cinema to cinema (via the snack bar) watching movies all day. Good times. While it's still possible to sneak into sessions through the day at Melbourne's big chain cinemas (not that I'm recommending it, of course), daytime is so much busier these days, what with work and babies and stuff.

An Open Letter to Complainers

31. August 2009

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Being a frequent traveler has its memorable moments, and one of them occurred recently when I had the chance to dine at a well-known Georgian restaurant in Moscow, Russia. It was a great meal, and the restaurant’s location combined with the balmy summer weather provided the perfect opportunity for a late-night stroll through the streets [...]

Five Great Cities for Children

18. August 2009

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As a general rule, children and cities don’t tend to mix. A family holiday can be far less stressful when it’s restricted to a resort or quiet countryside area. But there are some cities in the world that are jam-packed with child-friendly attractions and activities. Singapore, Sydney, London, Copenhagen & Los Angeles are arguably the world best five.

Sydney Beach Guide

11. August 2009

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You think Sydney, you think the beach. And you’d be right. There are about 150 beaches in the Sydney metropolitan area! The city’s spread along a long coastline fronting the Pacific Ocean, full of coves and rivers, ocean pools and surf, cliffs and treacherous waves. It’s spectacular and awesome and chilled out, all at the same time. And as winter starts to release its grip in Australia and we head into summer (remember summer in Australia starts in December!) I've created a Sydney beach guide to get you in the mood for the next Australian summer.

Alice Springs to Uluru: What to See & Do

5. August 2009

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Alice Springs to Uluru: What to See & Do

There are some travel destinations in the world that everyone talks about. They’ve either been there and it changed their life, or they really, really want to go but it’s too far, or they have one thousand and two photos to show you. And for once all those chattering returnees are right: Uluru is somewhere you must go. Distance be damned, stock up on camera batteries and sunscreen and get thee to the middle of Australia. We decided to fly to Alice Springs, hire a car and drive down to Ayers Rock and Uluru. A simple plan. And as it turned out, a good one.

Northern Territory. Best Place in the World. Ever.

17. July 2009

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Northern Territory. Best Place in the World. Ever.

This may be an unashamedly biased overview of an already generalised topic. However, Australia's Northern Territory is clearly and obviously the best place in the world, anyone could tell you that. Before it was discovered by a couple of kangaroos a few years back, there was little more than an empty can of Fosters up here and the occasional pandanus palm. Territorians have since made the mighty NT what it is through hard work and a lot of die-hard bragging.